Window envelope



Mar. 27, 1923.

W. E. SW!

WINDOW ENVELOPE. FILED FEB-21,192!- 11 )IIOAMIN Ilium Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLARD E. SWIFT, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIG-NOR TO UNITED STATES ENVELOPE COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

WINDOW ENVELOPE.

Application filed February 21, 1921, Serial No. itBjYOE).

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VILLARD E. Swrr'r, a citizen of the United States. residing at WVorcester, in the county of Vorcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have in-- vented a new and useful Improvement in a Vindow Envelope, of which the following, together with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

The object of my present. invention is to provide an envelope, preferably one having a window opening, which is so constructed as to be peculiarly susceptible to the operation of a cancelling machine, for cancelling a postage stamp or postage permit thereon. Another object of said invention is to so construct. such an envelope as to facilitate the sealing thereof mechanically, as a part of the operation of mechanical cancellation. The; above and other objects are accomplished by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front or face view of an envelope, the same being shown in the position and relation which it occupies for the operation of mechanical cancellation.

Fig. 2 shows the same envelope on its reverse side, with the seal flap folded down.

Fig. 3 is a central transverse sectional view of the envelope.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the different figures.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 denotes the face or address side of the body portion of the envelope, 2 a seal flap, provided with the usual gummed surface 3, by which it may be attached to the back of the envelope, in the operation of sealing, as represented at 2 Fig. 2. The envelope is constructed by folding its flaps, of any suitable shape, upon the body portion of the envelope, as represented in Fig. 2 in which 4, 4, denote the end flaps and 5 the back flap, which are attached along their overlapping adjacent edges by adhesive material, in the usual and well known manner.

lVhen an envelope of the ordinary and usual construction is subjected to the action of a cancelling machine of the type now commonly in use, said envelope must first have been sealed,for the reason that the stamp or postage permit is invariably disposed adjacent the longitudinal edge or fold 7 of the seal flap, as indicated by the broken lines 6, Fig. 1, and for the reason that the delivery to the cancelling devices requires the envelope to be supported. while being fed, on said longitudinal edge which is adjacent to the stamp or postage permit. In other words, prior to mechanical cancellation an envelope of ordinary construction must be sealed, so as to furnish the necessary closed supporting edge for its delivery, in an inverted position to the cancelling devices. Such cancelling devices and machines are well known in the art and form no part of the present invention.

The latter aims to provide a construction of envelope which, when subjected to mechanical cancellation, does not require the scaling to be carried on as a previous sepa; rate operation. As shown in Fig. 1, this result is accomplished by placing the window openin 10, or a space for the address, near the upper or seal flap edge of the envelope; and when the card of the sender, or return address is required, the same is located, not in the usual position indicated by the broken lines 8, but in the position of the rectangle 11, but with the bottom of the letters uppermost. The stamp, or postage permit, is placed in the position indicated by the rectangle 12 with the stamp, or letters of the postage permit, preferably placed upside down, as represented in Fig. 1. The proximity of this stamp or postage permit 12 to the permanently formed fold or edge 9 enables the envelope to be forwarded through the cancelling mechanism without regard to the position of the seal flap 2; the latter is not required to be previously and separately sealed in advance of the cancelling operation, and it remains in condition to be mechanically sealed on the same forward movement. which carries the envelope, supported on the edge 9, through the cancelling mechanism to receive the imprint of the cancellation, as indicated at 13, Fig. 1.

According to the invention, the address space for the envelope, on the face or front thereof, is in a location removed from the permanently folded edge 9,that is, on the opposite side of the envelope from said edge 9, with reference to the longitudinal center line of the envelope face, indicated by the broken line 14, Fig. 1. Said address space,

space is the line of fold 7 of the seal flap 2,-

as here shown, may be constituted by a window opening 10, the latter adapted to rewhich, after moistening of its gummed surface 3, is moved into the successive positions 2, Fig. 3, and 2", Fig. 2, to complete the enclosure.

I claim,

1. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope adapted for presentation to cancelling instrunilentalities without necessity for previous separate sealing thereof, said envelope having an unbroken permanently closed longitudinal edge or fold, opposite to its seal flap, for its edgewise support in being fed to said cancelling instrumentalities, and presenting on its front face, remote from said supporting edge or fold, an address space Whose bottom or lower limit is the line of fold of said seal flap.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope adapted for presentation to canceL ling instl'uinentalities without necessity for previous separate sealing thereof, said envelope having an unbroken permanently closed longitudinal edge or fold, for its edgewise support in being fed to said cancelling instrumentalities, and presenting on its front face, adjacent to said supporting edge or fold, a stamp, printing, and cancellation space, and also presenting on its front face, remote from said supporting edge or fold, an address disclosing window whose c lower limit, for the disclosure of the address, is the line of fold of the seal flap of said envelope.

Dated this 17th day of February, 1921.

WILLARD SWIFT. 

